John's Crazy Socks expands to new space, to sell at Kohl's
John’s Crazy Socks, co-founded by Mark Cronin and son John Cronin, center, celebrated their expansion with a ribbon cutting ceremony at the company’s new Farmingdale facility, attended by local officials, community members and employees Wednesday. Credit: Danielle Silverman
Local online sock retailer John’s Crazy Socks has relocated to a larger warehouse and distribution hub as the Long Island business prepares to expand its retail presence into Kohl’s stores nationwide.
The e-commerce company, which had been headquartered in an industrial part of Melville, moved its operations to a 60% larger facility, at 110 Bi County Blvd. in nearby Farmingdale. The 6,070-square-foot warehouse space is being leased from industrial landlord Rechler Equity Partners of Plainview for five years.
The company, which sells about 4,000 sock designs, said the relocation will allow the company to expand its mission of employing individuals with disabilities while keeping up with demand for its colorfully designed socks. It currently employs 34 workers, 22 of whom have a disability.
“It gives us the room for growth and enables us to be more efficient in our fulfillment,” said Mark X. Cronin, who co-founded John’s Crazy Socks in 2016 along with his son John, who has Down syndrome.
Cronin said earlier this year that revenue grew by 47% last year, but he did not provide specific sales figures.
“We needed space to be able to support wholesale,” he said. “That’s where a lot of the growth will come.”
Cronin said the new Kohl’s deal will allow the company to sell its products wholesale to 856 Kohl’s stores across the country. Their socks will be featured in stores for at least three months, starting in October.
Their socks will be displayed in an area of Kohl's stores meant to highlight brands that give back to communities.
The company's socks include some with sayings like "Rockin Down syndrome" and "Autism Awareness" to promote awareness of individuals with disabilities. The company also sells socks featuring cartoon dogs and cats to promote animal rescue and adoption.
Ten percent of each sale of those "awareness socks" goes to specific charities, including the National Down Syndrome Society, Association for Children with Down Syndrome (ACDS) in Plainview, North Shore Animal League America and the Nassau/Suffolk Autism Society of America.
The company has been pushing to grow beyond its direct-to-consumer sales model into wholesaling its socks to large national retailers since earlier this year.
In April, John’s Crazy Socks announced a partnership with longtime Amazon subsidiary Zappos to sell a selection that promotes inclusivity of people with Down syndrome and autism.
The company celebrated its move to the new facility with a ribbon-cutting ceremony Wednesday, which featured a performance by the Family Residence and Essential Enterprise (FREE) Drum and Bugle Corps and Choir.
To date, the company has shipped more than 375,000 packages to 88 countries and has given over half a million dollars to its charity partners.
